Barbieri v. Gandolfo-Ghio Manufacturing Co.

94 S.W. 828, 118 Mo. App. 218, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 298
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 24, 1906
StatusPublished

This text of 94 S.W. 828 (Barbieri v. Gandolfo-Ghio Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barbieri v. Gandolfo-Ghio Manufacturing Co., 94 S.W. 828, 118 Mo. App. 218, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 298 (Mo. Ct. App. 1906).

Opinion

GOODE, J. ■ — ■

The Gandolfo-Ghio Manufacturing Company is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti and other foods of that kind in the city of St. Louis. The defendant J. B. Gandolfo is its general manager. Plaintiff Joseph Barbieri had been working in the factory of the defendant company some three or four years prior to January 15, 1901, on which date he sustained a severe injury to one of his hands while occupied in passing dough through a knead[219]*219ing machine in the factory. This action was instituted to recover damages for that injury.

The grounds of recovery stated in the petition are as follows:

“Plaintiff further states that at and prior to the time plaintiff was injured as aforesaid, the defendants were negligent and careless .in that they failed- to exercise ordinary care, first, by omitting to inspect said machine; second, by omitting to replace or repair said machine when they knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care, might have known that said machine was in a defective, unsafe and dangerous condition; third, by failing to furnish plaintiff with good and safe machinery; fourth, by instructing plaintiff to use said machinery ‘when they knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care, might have known that it was unsafe and dangerous for him to do so; fifth, by assuring the plaintiff that said machine was in a good and safe condition and would not injure him when they knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care, might have known that said machine was in a defective, unsafe and dangerous condition; and plaintiff states that the negligence and carelessness aforesaid is and was the natural and proximate cause of said injuries.
“Plaintiff further states that at all times herein referred to, said machine and each and every part thereof was worn, bent, crushed and broken and said machine at the time plaintiff was injured, and each and every part thereof, moved with a sudden and unusual motion.”

In defense a general denial was pleaded; also contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff in removing from the machine he was operating, a guard which belonged on it and was intended to prevent the hand of the operator from getting between the rollers of the machine, and in operating the machine after the guard was removed. It was further alleged that the condition of the machine in all its particulars was well known [220]*220to plaintiff and that he assumed whatever risk there was of being injured by operating it without the guard.

Under the instructions of the court the jury returned a verdict in favor of Gandolfo, but against the Gandolfo-Ghio Manufacturing Company, and judgment having been entered in accordance with the verdict, the company appealed.

To facilitate an understanding of the manner in which the injury was received, it is necessary to understand the construction and operation of the kneading machine and, perhaps, it will not be easy to describe it so that these matters can be understood clearly. In a general way the kneading machine was constructed and used like a clothes wringer; but was much larger and built, in the main, of iron. There were two heavy iron rollers six inches in diameter, one superimposed above the other at a distance which could be controlled by turning a screw. These rollers rotated on axles and the dough to be kneaded was run between them, usually when set about three-fourths of an inch apart. The mass of dough was passed through the rollers fifteen or twenty times until it was thoroughly kneaded. We have not found a statement in the evidence of the height of the rollers above the floor, but from the drift of the testimony we suppose they were about the height of an ordinary table and supported on stanchions or legs. The rollers were about two feet long. In front of them was a wooden trough as wide as the rollers were long, in which the dough was deposited. Behind the rollers was another wooden trough which sloped toward them, forming an inclined plane at a slight angle. The operator stood a.t one side of the level trough in front of the rollers and, taking a lump of dough about three feet long and one foot and a half wide out of that trough, would throw it over the rollers into the sloping trough behind them, then push it toward the rollers until they, turning inwardly, took hold of it and rolled it between them; discharging it into the trough in front; from [221]*221whence it would he taken by the operator again and thrown into the trough behind, and the operation repeated until the requisite kneading was obtained. While Barbieri was working with the machine on the morning in question, his hand got caught between the rollers and was badly mangled. This happened when he was in the act of pushing the dough along the inclined trough to the rollers. The accident was caused, plaintiff contends, by the machinery being in bad repair in particulars which Avill be stated, and the company contends, by his carelessness in thrusting his fingers between the rollers. The tAAro rollers were each mounted on an axle one inch and a half in diameter, which axles revolved in journal boxes at their ends. These boxes were square and set in a cast-iron frame. The boxes at either end were superimposed one above the other and a screw projected downward through the upper frame. By turning this screw the rollers could be made to separate or approach each other, and thus the distance between them was regulated, metallic plates being inserted between the boxes, when the latter Avere separated, to hold them firmly in position. The rollers were turned by means of cogwheels. In the factory there was a main driving shaft on which Avere a loose and a tight pulley, and on these pulleys ran a belt about four inches wide, which could be transferred from one pulley to the other. Attached to one end of this main shaft was a cogwheel eight inches in diameter, which geared or ran into a larger cogwheel about twice that diameter, fastened to the axle or shaft of the lower roller. The rotation of the main shaft by means of the belt caused the cogwheel on the axle of the lower roller to rotate, thereby turning that roller. At the other end of the axle of the lower roller was a cogwheel which Avorked into another cogwheel at the same end of the axle of the upper roller. The result of this arrangement was that when the belt was shoved from the loose pulley on the tight one, the main shaft was thrown into rotation and the cogwheel on that shaft [222]*222working intd the cogwheel on the lower roller turned that roller, and the cogwheel on the other end of its axle, turning into the cogwheel on the shaft of the upper roller, caused the latter to rotate, and in this manner both rollers were made to turn inwardly. Two cogs were broken on the eight-inch cogwheel attached to the main shaft which worked into the cogwheel on the axle of the lower roller. The cogs were two inches in depth and two and one-half inches broad. The two that were broken were not broken transversely, but lengthwise. That is, one side of the two cogs was broken off so that only about half the breadth of the cog remained, but that half was of full length. The two broken cogs were separated from each other by six or seven whole cogs. In operating the machine about three cogs meshed at a time with the cogs of the wheel into which they worked.

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Bluebook (online)
94 S.W. 828, 118 Mo. App. 218, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barbieri-v-gandolfo-ghio-manufacturing-co-moctapp-1906.